GoldenEar BRX Review

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Sound

During the last weeks I used the BRX in my stereo chain, driven by two M700 mono blocks from PS Audio. The entire system consists of a Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 DAC, a HoloAudio Serene KTE pre-amplifier and an Eversolo DMP-A8 streamer. Music came from my Roon ROCK server. Everything is cabled by AudioQuest’s Black Beauty XLR interconnects and a Robin Hood speaker cable. AudioQuest’s PowerQuest 707 served as power conditioner for all of my gear.

The GoldenEar BRX is a very neutral tuned monitor that excels in a few key areas. It has superb detailing and extension; while offering a room-filling vocal presence it might miss some low-end grunt needed for bass enthusiasts. The BRX creates a vastly immersive sound stage with great width and depth. It offers a refined and polished sound with a clean and clear top-end.

The bass response of the BRX is characterized by speed and neutrality. While the extension into the sub-bass regions is remarkable for a speaker of this size, it might lack some heft and weight. Tracks like DJ Krush’s “Gourya” or DJ Shadow’s “The Mountain Will Fall” to me need more density and thunder to sound their best.

The bass is fast and controlled, which is presented with precision and high resolution. There is good texture and layering in the lows, which often left me stunned especially in orchestral pieces where string strokes could be heard in clear detail. One thing to note about the bass is also that it appears centered between the speakers, rather than thrown at you in your listening position. This sometimes left me feeling uninvolved.

Midrange performance is where the BRX truly excels in my opinion. It offers heaps of transparency and details, but also has great richness in its vocals and instruments. The BRX really brings singers to life by providing a vocal presence that truly fills a room. A song I want to mention here is Jamie XX’s “Stranger in a Room”, where the singer is captured with emotions and richness.

The mids of the GoldenEar come with excellent resolution and detailing. It effortlessly portrays complex structures and displays them in front of you. The “Tour de France” cover by Powerplant and the Elysian Quartet for example is resolved to the finest bits and pieces, where every musician finds its place in the room. The instruments in this track come across with neutrality and a natural body.

GoldenEar’s BRX offers a sense of realism that really strikes. Vocals are presented with incredible presence and clarity, allowing them to stand out while remaining well integrated in the mix.

The GoldenEar is a technically very proficient speaker. It delivers high resolution and levels of transparency that are off the charts. Couple the high resolution with the black background and you get yourself superb imaging abilities. With the GoldenEar you can pinpoint each instrument in the constructed room. The sound stage it creates is well stretched into width and depth. Its height is also taller, making way for a grand soundscape. 

Where the BRX shines to me is in dynamic range. It handles loud and intense passages with ease. The BRX portrays details with care, delivering the finest nuances of the music.

The treble of the GoldenEar is fast, agile and detailed. It breathes loads of air into the rest of the sound spectrum. Highs are precise and clear but can sometimes come across as a touch too forward for my personal taste. At times, the GoldenEar is on the edge of hotness. The detailed response, however, is aiding music that relies on them, like Classical.

Jump ahead to page three for comparisons.